The Second World War

Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of World War II. His multi-award winning books have included Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the twentieth century, The Second World War. Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor's provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on World War II.

Where the Iron Crosses Grow: The Crimea 1941-44

The Crimea was one of the crucibles of the war on the Eastern Front, where first a Soviet and then a German army were surrounded, fought desperate battles, and were eventually destroyed. The fighting in the region was unusual for the Eastern Front in many ways, in that naval supply, amphibious landings, and naval evacuation played major roles, while both sides were also conducting ethnic cleansing as part of their strategy - the Germans eliminating the Jews and the Soviets purging the region of Tartars.

Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk: The Turning Point of World War II

While the Battle of Kursk has long captivated World War II aficionados, it has been unjustly overlooked by historians. Drawing on the masses of new information made available by the opening of the Russian military archives, Dennis E. Showalter at last corrects that error. This battle was the critical turning point on World War II's Eastern Front. In the aftermath of the Red Army's brutal repulse of the Germans at Stalingrad, the stakes could not have been higher.

The Battle of the Tanks: Kursk, 1943

On July 5, 1943, the greatest land battle in history began when Nazi and Red Army forces clashed near the town of Kursk, on the western border of the Soviet Union. Code named Operation Citadel, the German offensive would cut through the bulge in the eastern front that had been created following Germany's retreat at the battle of Stalingrad. But the Soviets, well informed about Germany's plans through their network of spies, had months to prepare.

Leningrad: The Epic Siege of World War II, 1941-1944

On September 8, 1941, 11 weeks after Hitler's brutal surprise attack on the Soviet Union, Leningrad was surrounded. The German siege was not lifted for two and a half years, by which time some three quarters of a million Leningraders had died of starvation.

When Britain Saved the West: The Story of 1940

From the comfortable distance of seven decades, it is quite easy to view the victory of the Allies over Hitler's Germany as inevitable. But in 1940 Great Britain's defeat loomed perilously close, and no other nation stepped up to confront the Nazi threat. In this cogently argued book, Robin Prior delves into the documents of the time - war diaries, combat reports, Home Security's daily files, and much more - to uncover how Britain endured a year of menacing crises.

Deathride: Hitler vs. Stalin: The Eastern Front, 1941-1945

John Mosier presents a revisionist retelling of the war on the Eastern Front. The conventional wisdom is that Hitler was mad to think he could defeat the USSR, because of its vast size and population, and that the Battle of Stalingrad marked the turning point of the war. Neither statement is accurate, says Mosier; Hitler came very close to winning outright.

The Devils' Alliance: Hitler's Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941

History remembers the Soviets and the Nazis as bitter enemies and ideological rivals - the two opposing totalitarian regimes of World War II whose conflict would be the defining and deciding clash of the war. Yet for nearly a third of the conflict's entire timespan, Hitler and Stalin stood side by side as partners.

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East

In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.

Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War

The 1941 Battle of Moscow, unquestionably one of the most decisive battles of World War II, marked the first strategic defeat of the German armed forces in their seemingly unstoppable march across Europe. The Soviets lost many more people in this one battle than the British and Americans lost in the whole of the Second World War. Now, with authority and narrative power, Rodric Braithwaite tells the story in large part through the individual experiences of ordinary Russian men and women.

The Drive on Moscow, 1941: Operation Taifun and Germany’s First Great Crisis of World War II

At the end of September 1941, more than a million German soldiers lined up along the frontline just 180 miles west of Moscow. They were well trained, confident, and had good reasons to hope that the war in the East would be over with one last offensive. Facing them was an equally large Soviet force, but whose soldiers were neither as well trained nor as confident. When the Germans struck, disaster soon befell the Soviet defenders.

Sacrifice on the Steppe: The Italian Alpine Corps in the Stalingrad Campaign, 1942-1943

When Germany’s Sixth Army advanced to Stalingrad in 1942, its long-extended flanks were mainly held by its allied armies - the Romanians, Hungarians, and Italians. But as history tells us, these flanks quickly caved in before the massive Soviet counter-offensive which commenced that November, dooming the Germans to their first catastrophe of the war. However, the historical record also makes clear that one allied unit held out to the very end, fighting to stem the tide - the Italian Alpine Corps.

The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945

From the preeminent Hitler biographer, a fascinating and original exploration of how the Third Reich was willing and able to fight to the bitter end of World War II. Countless books have been written about why Nazi Germany lost World War II, yet remarkably little attention has been paid to the equally vital question of how and why it was able to hold out as long as it did.

France 1940: Defending the Republic

In this revisionist account of France's crushing defeat in 1940, Philip Nord argues that the nation's downfall has long been misunderstood. Nord assesses France's diplomatic and military preparations for war with Germany, its conduct of the war once the fighting began, and the political consequences of defeat on the battlefield. Ultimately, he finds that the longstanding view that France's collapse was due to military unpreparedness and a decadent national character is unsupported by fact.

Swansong 1945: A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich

Swansong 1945 chronicles the end of Nazi Germany and World War II in Europe through hundreds of letters, diaries, and autobiographical accounts covering four days that fateful spring: Hitler's birthday on April 20, American and Soviet troops meeting at the Elbe on April 25, Hitler's suicide on April 30, and finally the German surrender on May 8.

Korsun Pocket: The Encirclement and Breakout of a German Army in the East, 1944

During the second half of 1943, after the failure at Kursk, Germany’s Army Group South fell back from Russia under repeated hammer blows from the Red Army. Under Erich von Manstein, however, the Germans were able to avoid serious defeats, while at the same time fending off Hitler’s insane orders to hold on to useless territory. Then, in January 1944, a disaster happened.

The Red Flag: A History of Communism

In The Red Flag, Oxford professor David Priestland tells the epic story of a movement that has taken root in dozens of countries across 200 years, from its birth after the French Revolution to its ideological maturity in 19th-century Germany to its rise to dominance (and subsequent fall) in the 20th century.

Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin

Americans think of World War II as “The Good War”, a moment when the forces of good resoundingly triumphed over evil. Yet the war was not decided by D-day. It was decided in the East, by the Red Army and Joseph Stalin. While conventional wisdom locates the horrors of World War II in the six million Jews killed in German concentration camps, the reality is even grimmer. In 13 years, the Nazi and Soviet regimes killed 13 million people in the lands between Germany and Russia.

Napoleon's Invasion of Russia: The History and Legacy of the French Emperor's Greatest Military Blunder

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was not a man made for peacetime. By 1812 he had succeeded in subduing most of his enemies - though in Spain the British continued to be a perpetual thorn in his flank that drained the Empire of money and troops - but his relationship with Russia, never more than one of mutual suspicion at best, had now grown downright hostile.

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck

A stunning look at World War II from the other side.... From the turret of a German tank, Colonel Hans von Luck commanded Rommel's 7th and then 21st Panzer Division. El Alamein, Kasserine Pass, Poland, Belgium, Normandy on D-Day, the disastrous Russian front - von Luck fought there with some of the best soldiers in the world. German soldiers. Awarded the German Cross in Gold and the Knight's Cross, von Luck writes as an officer and a gentleman.

The Last Battle

The Battle for Berlin was the culminating struggle of World War II in the European theater. The last offensive against Hitler’s Third Reich, it devastated one of Europe’s historic capitals and marked the final defeat of Nazi Germany. It was also one of the war’s bloodiest and most pivotal battles, whose outcome would shape international politics for decades to come.

KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps

In KL, Wachsmann fills this glaring gap in our understanding. He not only synthesizes a new generation of scholarly work, much of it untranslated and unknown outside of Germany, but also presents startling revelations, based on many years of archival research, about the functioning and scope of the camp system.

At Leningrad's Gates: The Combat Memoirs of a Soldier with Army Group North

This is the remarkable story of a German soldier who fought throughout World War II, rising from conscript private to captain of a heavy weapons company on the Eastern Front. >William Lubbeck, age 19, was drafted into the Wehrmacht in August 1939. As a member of the 58th Infantry Division, he received his baptism of fire during the 1940 invasion of France. The following spring his division served on the left flank of Army Group North in Operation Barbarossa.

Goebbels: A Biography

In life and in his grisly family suicide, Goebbels was one of Hitler's most loyal acolytes. Though powerful in the party and in wartime Germany, Longerich's Goebbels is a man dogged by insecurities and consumed by his fierce adherence to the Nazi cause. Longerich engages and challenges the careful self-portrait that Goebbels left behind in his diaries, and, as he delves deep into the mind of Hitler's master propagandist, Longerich discovers firsthand how the Nazi message was conceived. This complete portrait of the man behind the message is sure to become a standard for historians and students of the Holocaust for years to come.

Publisher's Summary

In August 1942, an overconfident Adolf Hitler would attempt to invade Stalin's namesake city on the Volga. The battle of Stalingrad is extraordinary in every way: the triumphant invader fought to a standstill; then the Soviet trap sprung, surrounding their attackers; and the terrible siege, with Germans starving and freezing, forced to fight on by a disbelieving Hitler. Now Antony Beevor tells the story as it has never been told before, recounting the strategic brilliance and fatal flaws of the notorious generals, while telling the incredible tale from a soldier's-eye view. The author incorporates Russian reports on desertions and executions that have never been seen by Western scholars, German transcripts of prisoner interrogations, and private letters and diaries to re-create the human drama of the most terrible battle in modern warfare.

What the Critics Say

"A gripping account of the horrific battle that culminated in the collapse of Adolf Hitler's blitzkrieg offensive in Russia, and ultimately ordained German defeat in WWII." (Kirkus Reviews)"A wonderfully readable work of history." (The Wall Street Journal)"What a pleasure it is to welcome a real book by a writer who truly understands the drama and tragedy of great operations. It is certainly the best narrative of the battle yet to appear and is not likely to be surpassed in our time." (John Keegan)"Antony Beevor has produced the first history of Stalingrad which gives us the Soviet viewpoint. It is a compelling and extraordinary story, richly detailed, and engrossingly written." (Richard Overy, author of Why the Allies Won)"Cool and heartrending, balanced and detailed: the best war history to appear for many years." (Robert Conquest, author of Stalin)

The story of the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union on the Ostfront is itself so incredible and full of extremes of human experience on a scale that most modern people can't comprehend, that even a dry historic account will still hit you in the gut. Beevor's writing certainly is a bit dry (as is the audiobook narration), but he conveys the triumphant hubris of the the German war machine as it grinds through an ill-prepared Soviet Army hampered by its own paranoid leader, the desperate fight-to-the-death brutality of the siege of Stalingrad, the last Russian stronghold before the Volga, the monstrosity of two totalitarian states willing to sacrifice millions of their own citizens to their authority, and finally, the collapse of the German army before a population that it could kill vast numbers of, but not defeat.

Beevor is sympathetic enough to soldiers on both sides, and besides the requisite facts and figures, there are plenty of episodes of heroism from individual Russians and Germans, as well as bad decisions and senseless waste of life. All in all, it was a tragic but page-turning reminder to me of just how little we Americans really know about war and the price that's paid for "uncompromising" leaders.

So far.

There are probably more detailed and/or engagingly written accounts of World War Two's Eastern Front, but this book contains a perfectly readable history for anyone looking for a place to start. (PS. If you're still hungry for a fantastic, listenable account of the Ostfront, look up Dan Carlin's "Hardcore History" podcast.)

Antony Bevor is an excellent author.
His books are straight from troops and need to be read as such.
However the narrator seems to have other ideas. He reads the book as if it were a classic novel instead of the urgency and down-to-ground level viewpoint.
One more good book spoiled by a bad narrator.
Sadly, i guess Audible never learns the lesson or never listens to its customers.

I was already casually acquainted with the battle, and the eastern front in general, so I thought this would be a good book to expand my knowledge of the events and the individuals involved in this particular conflict. I assumed that any author writing a book on a single battle out of the hundreds of of battles that occurred in WWII would spend a little more time and research on on this particular subject matter. It's a fair assumption, since anyone with enough interest to even buy a book named "Stalingrad: the fateful siege" would likely be at least casually familiar with the events of the battle. Despite this seemingly obvious observation, the book provides a fleeting overview of the eastern front prior to the battle, then, a quick month by month accounting of what happened in the city, and then a few notes about what happened after the battle. Wholly fulfilling!

Of what I expected, I found almost entirely lacking: Almost no accounts of the young men involved in the battle, a few notes from the officers, but nothing from the soldiers on either side - Almost no accounts from the civilians that lived through the events - The only "personal touch" were a few superfluous words about the "inhuman conditions," disease, starvation and suffering as well as some broad statistics about survival rates. Hell, the author didn't even mention Pavlov's House... PAVLOV'S HOUSE! STALINGRAD! COME ON!

I didn't get the impression that the author had even bothered to visit the city, or dig through soviet archives, or do much of anything. He's written other books on WWII, so this may have just been a residual brain dump to wring a little extra cash from what he's learned thus far, maybe with 8 or so hours of extra research thrown in, just to get the divisional numbers correct.

Has Stalingrad turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not from the genre, but I'd never buy a book from this author again.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The performer was great. I don't fault him for the travesty that is "Stalingrad."

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

What made the experience of listening to Stalingrad the most enjoyable?

By listening, you are taken back to a time in history not mentioned much in American history classrooms. The eastern front alone could have accounted as the most brutal conflict in history. It's great to hear about the battle of stalingrad from so many perspectives as provided by Beevor.

This is a good book to listen to about the Stalingrad Siege. However, the information presented is heavily weighted towards military and political strategy and activities. I was wanting more information about the civilian activities. The reader was easy to listen to, and kept the book rolling along.

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